Heroes and Villains
by SentimentalBoy18
Summary: Peter Parker enjoys his life as it is. He has his team, his school, and his family all in line. He has managed to balance his life as Peter Parker and his life as Spider-Man. But when Nick Fury Gives him his mission to save a guy named Fynn, his whole team's life is turned upside down. And with a sinister new force's power rising, can they save everything? (Sam/OC, T for cussing)
1. Ready, Aim, Fire

**Heyo! Alrighty, so this is my third attempt at this story because I keep wanting to start it differently xD Anyhow, here we are and I'm really feeling this. Also I'm real shitty with updates, so I apologize in advance. Okay, on to disclaimers. This is rated T for cussing and such. Also, if you're not okay with gay folks, might as well leave now because I'm gonna have gay folks and Imma ship them. Oops, sorry not sorry. So yeah, eventual Sam/OC. Also I don't own any of these characters except Fynn. See ya later! Hope you enjoy, reviews are insanely appreciated!**

 **Chapter One**

"So, Peter, what do you have planned today?" Aunt May asked me from the kitchen where she was washing dishes. I was in the other room, packing some of my things into a backpack. While I wouldn't need the six pens, three pencils, a fashion magazine, and a small throw pillow for what I was going to do, she would be incredibly suspicious if I didn't take something with me.

"Oh, just going over to study with Harry. He wanted some more tutoring." I answer, walking into the kitchen, "I'll be back before dinner, though."

"Good! And could you pick some milk up from the store on your way home please? We're running out."

"Sure." I agreed, slinging my bag over my back, "I'll see you later, Aunt May." I tell her, heading for the front door

"Bye, dear!" she exclaimed as I walked out the door. Man, I love Aunt May. She's always so supportive and sweet. Granted, she doesn't know the half of what she's supporting, what with me being a well known and sometimes beloved superhero.

That's right. I'm a superhero. My name is Peter Parker, better known as Spider-man. I've been doing it for a while now, but more recently I've joined S.H.I.E.L.D. and gotten a team to work with. I'm kind of their leader, not that I ever bring it up with them… Okay, maybe I hold it over their heads a _little_ bit.

But being a part of a S.H.I.E.L.D. does have it's challenges. Like the fact that Nick Fury, while being a fantastic leader, has a stick jammed very, _very_ far up his ass. And he has no reservations about waking up an innocent teenage boy at 5:30 in the morning _on a weekend_ for some super secret mission. Also, anyone who has to listen to Nova run his mouth for hours on end during training sessions deserves just a little bit of sympathy.

But, really, I didn't have much to complain about. My life was going pretty well. I had a good family, amazing friends, passing grades, and powers most could only dream of. I really just hoped that things wouldn't change any time soon.

But life isn't that simple, now is it?

 **xxx**

As soon as I made it to the S.H.I.E.L.D. helicarrier, I came upon my team, just as confused and irritable as I feel.

"What is happening?!" White Tiger questioned me as I walked up. She did not sound at all happy. Knowing her, she was going to be the first one to find out. White Tiger, or Ava Ayala, was a very intelligent person and she always got the answers she wanted. While it was great when you are on her side, it's terrifying to be on the other end of.

"I don't know, I wasn't told anything." I reply truthfully, "Just to get out of bed and get over here as soon as possible."

"Man, this is ridiculous. The world hardly exists this early in the morning." Nova's whiny voice complained. Nova, better known as Sam Alexander, is by far the most annoying member of the team. His very personality had the ability to send me from frolicking through a field of daisies to plotting a murder in two seconds flat. "I didn't even get a chance to shower!"

"Yeah, and we can all smell it." I quipped back.

"Calm yourselves. It may be early, but there's no need to anger each other." Iron Fist mediated. Danny Rand is the calmest person I know, so absolutely no one was surprised when he decided to fight the fire that was a verbal battle between me and Nova.

"Aww, way to ruin my only source of entertainment." pouted Power Man. Luke Cage is always ready to watch Nova and I go at it, though he hardly ever gets involved himself. Not that I would think of messing with him if I did. It's not that I don't think I can beat him, it's just he's not the kind of guy who you want to have as your enemy.

"Alright, alright, settle down." a voice commanded from behind me. Before I even turned around, there was no doubt in my mind that the speaker was Nick Fury, the director of S.H.I.E.L.D. Sure enough, when I looked, there he stood. He was wearing what he always wore, a long black coat covering tight black clothing and his signature eyepatch. His face looked the same too, permanently bent into a scowl that could scare the toughest of foes if need be. But my team and I were used to it by now, so we just stood at attention, each one of us listening to receive the supposedly urgent mission and judge whether or not it was worth being woken so early in the morning.

"Director Fury, we're all here. What's this important mission you have for us?" White Tiger asked, speaking for us all. She probably knew that our way of asking wouldn't be so diplomatic, especially if Nova started running his mouth.

"I need you to retrieve a target for me. It's very important that he is brought in alive. If you all fail, we are going to have a major issue on our hands, one that would need to be handed off to the Avengers." Nick explained.

I tilted my head a bit, confused. "Sir, if this mission is so important, why not just get the Avengers involved now? I'm sure Iron Man and Captain America could get this target without hardly lifting a finger." As a superhero, the Avengers are huge idols of mine. They're all so powerful and respected and actually liked by the public, unlike myself. To say I was a bit jealous would be a giant understatement.

"Because that would make this a much more high profile case. Sending you guys in will shine less of a spotlight on the situation. We want this cleaned up as quickly and quietly as possible because I doubt the fight that follows, should you be successful, will go over easily. The less struggle we have in the public eye, the better."

"So who's this target?" Power Man asked.

"His name is Fynn Clayton. We have been given intel stating that he has superhuman abilities. We are unsure as to what exactly these abilities entail, but we hear they are quite impressive. But he disappeared a few days ago. Our sources tracked him down and he is being held by the Nethercore. They are a group that is quickly making its way up the S.H.I.E.L.D.'s most wanted list. They are trying to create an army of dangerous people with superhuman abilities. They plan on capturing and corrupting these people with their agenda and using them to take over."

"Take over what?" White Tiger asked.

"Everything." My eyes widened beneath my mask. This was way above our pay grade.

"Everything? But everything is kinda important…" I said, attempting to lighten the mood. According to the faces of my comrades, it didn't really work.

"No worries, Director Fury, we'll save this Fynn guy." Nova declared, clearly very confident in himself. He's always so full of himself. Ugh.

"You'd better, there's a lot riding on this." Nick said in his no-nonsense voice. Even though he usually sounded that stern, something about his demeanor told me that we really had absolutely no room for error.

"Come on, team! Let's go save the damsel!" I exclaim, breaking into a sprint towards the jets. I could hear my team follow, though I could imagine the looks of embarrassment on their faces at my cheesy comments. Everyone except Nova.

"To the damsel!" he declared as he flew after me.

But the guy we saved was certainly no damsel in distress.


	2. Friction

**Chapter 2**

"So what's the plan?" Power Man asked from his jet. We were on our way to the compound, located in Death Valley, California. A plan would probably be a good idea, given how riled up Director Fury was. We had one chance and I had no intention of screwing it up.

"Once we get into the building, there should be a place to find the layout." Iron Fist's quiet voice came over the intercom.

"Yeah, but what about the guards? There's going to be guards." White Tiger pointed out.

"We'll fight them off!" Nova exclaimed. I rolled my eyes. It could not be that easy, but it's really all we had to go off of. The size of the organization would definitely change the number of guards. All we had to do was hope that they hadn't been hiring much recently.

"Has everyone read Fynn's file? Fury sent it to help us in our rescue mission." White Tiger asked us, ever the scholar of our group. She probably had the whole thing memorized by now. She's that good.

"Mhmmm.. Totally… It was brilliant, five stars… Sure…" The whole team's uncertain answers flowed together like a beautiful river of complete bullshit. Our replies were followed by an irritated silence from Tiger's end. That lasted a few seconds until she finally spoke again.

"You guys are hopeless.." Tiger sighed, "Just read the file, we'll be landing soon." And with that, she ended the call, returning me to the solitude of the jet.

Since I had no other form of entertainment for the remainder of the journey, I decided it wouldn't be a terrible idea to take Tiger's advice and read up on our mission's target, Fynn. He was sixteen, like the rest of us, but the similarities seemed to be few and far between. He had been homeless for a long while now, though S.H.I.E.L.D. had no idea how long it had been. That had been where the Nethercore had picked him up. He had been in and out of some orphanages and foster homes over the years, so his file was in the system, but that was about all they had on him. No parents, no family, hardly any connections to anything. He had been held a few times for theft, but based on the fact that the scene of the crime was usually a gas station or grocery store, it looked like he was just trying to survive. All in all, he seemed like a good enough guy. But the file didn't have any information regarding what kind of powers we were talking about.

Finally, I tapped the picture of Fynn in the file and it opened on my screen. He was taller than me and very skinny. He certainly didn't seem to weigh more than one hundred pounds, but he didn't seem that unhealthy. He had black hair that looked messy, but it worked on him. It wasn't too long, but he could probably do with a trim. His eyes were blue, but not shockingly so. However, they did stand out a bit against his pale face. He wore a white shirt and blue jeans with holes in the knees, probably from use. He clearly wasn't aware the picture was being taken, because he seemed to be focusing on something across the street. He was sitting against the wall of the building in the middle of the afternoon. He seemed pretty calm.

From what we knew so far, I liked this kid, although I had no clue how he managed to evade S.H.I.E.L.D.'s radar for so long. It was impressive. But that begs the question, how did the Nethercore find him?

"We're landing in two minutes, be ready." Power Man's voice shook me from my thoughts, bringing me back to reality. Suddenly, I felt incredibly confident. I was ready for this fight and we would get this kid back.

 **xxx**

The jets touched down a good distance away from the compound so that the guards wouldn't be alerted to our presence by watching us land. While we had to travel by foot for a little while, it meant that when we came upon the rectangular stone building surrounded by guards and a barbed wire fence we had the element of surprise. We found ourselves a spot to regroup, out of sight of the giant search lights scanning the area from the four towers, one at each corner of the square the fence made.

"That looks like a prison." Power Man commented as we stared down at the building from our hiding place on a hill.

"It is a prison." Iron Fist replied in his usual even tone.

"What's our plan?" White Tiger asked, looking to me. I smirked victoriously under my mask. It was always nice when someone acknowledged that I'm the leader of the group.

"Alright, Tiger and I will go in first and take out the guards outside. Nova and Iron Fist, disable the cameras without being seen. Power Man, I'm sure you could find us a way into the building." I gesture to the control booth on the east side of the main entrance. "That could be a good place to start. Everyone ready?" I ask, looking over my team.

"Ready." Was the general consensus.

White Tiger and I carefully and quietly made our way down to the compound, dodging the spotlights and getting ourselves to a place where we would be up close and unseen.

"I would say we've got about ten guards on patrol." White Tiger whispered to me, looking over the area. I counted as well and she was completely right. Never doubt the Tiger.

"Yeah. You take the ones on the north and west side, I'll go for the east and south sides?" I suggest.

"Copy that." she agreed and snuck off towards her targets. I pity the people who are sent against that intense tiger woman.

I webbed my way to the east side of the building. I crouched behind a part of the duct system in the building to avoid a spotlight. After it passed, I knew I had only a few minutes to get off the roof.

Looking over the edge, I saw two guards with guns pacing straight lines, making sure to keep themselves on opposite ends of the building at all times. I didn't have to be down there to realize that these guards took their jobs very seriously. Alert guards were always harder to take than slackers.

Then, as one guard passed near the fence, I saw a glow coming from the bushes on the other side of the fence. Upon closer inspection, I noticed that the glow was surrounding a Fist. Iron Fist was hidden in that bush, waiting for it to be safe to get in and disable the cameras. The glow died down once the guard passed and Iron Fist was safe again. As that guard continued on his path and got close to the building, I shot a web at him. It stuck and I quickly pulled him off the ground before his colleague could notice anything. I stuck webbing over his mouth to silence him and wrapped him up in a cocoon before he can struggle or scream. I did the same to the guard on the other end of the building, then nodded to Iron Fist that the coast is clear. He nodded back and I continued on my way.

On the south side, things were a lot more laid back. The three guards were sitting around a plain looking table, playing cards and laughing. It seemed the group was having a great time. Such a shame I'd have to ruin it.

I dropped down off the roof and onto the table, breaking it. Since I had the element of surprise, the guards were weaponless, so it was simple to knock them all out with a few simple hits. When they were all down, I took them up to the roof too and stashed the five guards where the lights wouldn't see them. No need to alert suspicion yet.

I then made my way to the front entrance to see White Tiger, Iron Fist, and Nova standing out in the open. I webbed my way down there to meet the majority of my team.

"I'm guessing you two got the cameras down?" I said to Iron Fist and Nova.

"We disconnected the wires." Iron Fist confirmed, gesturing to the nearest security camera. It was limp, the lens pointed to the ground. There were no blinking lights, which meant they were not operating.

"We're gonna want to get going before someone comes to check on those," White Tiger suggested, "Where's Power Man?"

Before anyone could respond, there was a sound of machinery grinding. We all looked towards the building to see the large metal blast door opening slowly. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Nova prepare energy blasts and Iron Fist's fist begin to glow. I could only assume that behind me, White Tiger had her claws out.

Before the door was even halfway open, Power Man came running over to us.

"Nice job with the door." I commend him.

"Thanks, but there's going to be a fight waiting inside." Power Man replied, falling into place behind me.

"No shit, Sherlock, we're breaking into an enemy compound." Nova said sarcastically. I rolled my eyes. He was never particularly good at figuring out when it was the wrong time for a quip. Well, look who's talking.

"Now might not be the best time for that, Nova." Iron Fist, ever the mediator, told him. "Prepare for battle."


	3. Teenagers

**Chapter 3**

When the door opened, we were greeted with the stares of the guards inside of the hangar. I took a mental note of the two armored hummers parked inside. They could be useful for our get away after we saved Fynn.

After the shocked guards regained their composure, they began firing on my team and I. All of us scattered, then jumped right into the battle.

I started by shooting webbing into some guards' faces, blinding them. The distraction gave White Tiger and Power Man the chance to take them down, clawing and punching them. Nova flew into the hangar and drew their fire to them, allowing everyone the chance to take them from the ground. He also hit them with energy bursts when he could, knocking them to the ground. Iron Fist and I rushed into the fight as well, Iron Fist punching a guard in the face, his fist glowing. I flipped over one of the men and then kicked him in the back. He didn't see it coming and fell on his face.

"Don't you know it's rude to shoot people?" I sassed the guard I just knocked out.

"Watch your back, Webhead!" I heard Nova shout from above. I turned around just in time to see a guard with a knife fall to the ground in a flash of blue light.

"Thanks, Buckethead!" I replied, landing a few punches on another guard. Say what you want about Nova, and believe me I have, but he did some good work.

Turning around, I saw a guy coming up behind Iron Fist. I wasted no time in webbing the guy to the wall, stopping him from attacking my teammate.

Soon enough, all of the guards were down and we regrouped.

"Everyone okay?" I asked, a little out of breath. I scan over everyone, looking for signs of injury.

"We're good." White Tiger answered for the group, and everyone else nodded in agreement. "Fury's intel said that Fynn is being held in the east wing, the cell block."

Underneath my mask, my face twisted in confusion. "What? Fury didn't give us any intel." Power Man voiced my own thoughts on the subject.

"He sent it to me on the jet. He probably didn't send it to you because he knew you guys wouldn't read it anyways." We all could tell Tiger was rolling her eyes at us, but we were used to it, so no one commented.

"Lead the way, then." Iron Fist gestured for her to pass the rest of us.

White Tiger did take the lead and clawed at the finger print scanner next to the door, destroying it. The door opened itself and we walked through into an empty hallway.

"This way." White Tiger whispered before walking to the end of the hallway and turning right. We all followed close behind.

At the end of the next hallway, there was a group of three guards. Disregarding all stealth, Nova shot blasts at all of them, knocking them to the ground. When we were sure they were all unconscious, we continued on, giving similar treatment to everyone in our way.  
"We're getting close…" Tiger told us quietly and the rest of us nodded. Sure enough, when we rounded the corner, we were faced by a hall with solid steel doors lining either wall. Each door has a fingerprint scanner next to it and a letter above the door, starting with A and ending with Z.

"So… Where do we start?" Nova asked, taking in the sight of all the options in front of us.

"He's in Cell C." Tiger answered simply, headed for the room.

"Of course you know that." Power Man muttered under his breath. _Someone_ sounded a bit bitter about not having all of the information, but I held my tongue.

White Tiger slashed the scanner and the door slid up, revealing a small, plain room inside. In the corner on the left from the door, there was a toilet and sink. The back right corner was a bed with an IV fluid bag stand holding a bag of clear fluid. The bag was flowing into a tall sleeping form that could only be Fynn Clayton.

Fynn looked almost exactly like he did in the picture with his file, except he looked so pale he was almost gray. Looking over him, there didn't seem to be any injuries that could have weakened him. But something sure had done a number on him.

"What happened to him..?" Nova questioned as we all gathered around his bedside.

"His aura.. It feels far too calm… He's being kept unconscious." Iron Fist said, using his powers of chi. Too calm? Look who's talking.

"This must be some sort of sedative." I commented, tapping the IV bag with a fingertip. Before anyone could comment, we heard the sound of boots landing heavily on the floor in the hallway outside. We were about to be attacked.

"Power Man, Iron Fist, Tiger, go hold them off. Nova and I will get Fynn ready to go." I order. The three nod and run out the door. A few seconds later, the sounds of combat from the hall signalled that the rest of my team had already found our opponents. Which means we don't have much time.

I carefully slid the needle of the IV from Fynn's vein and dropped it, letting it dangle next to the stand. He didn't move and inch or make a sound, meaning he was still knocked out. I wondered how much of the sedative was flowing through his system and how long it would keep him out.

"We gotta get going." I said to Nova, looking over at him.

"I can carry him out of here. Just cover me." he replied, nudging me out of the way so he could pick Fynn up bridal style. Fynn's head and arms were limp, but Nova didn't seem to have a problem carrying him, so I nodded and headed for the door.

Back out in the hallway, I saw three of my team members holding their own against a battalion of guards. I cheered them on before joining the fight, which was almost over already. Only a few remained, but I helped out anyways.

After the fight ended, Power Man asked, "Are we ready to go? Because I don't know how many more fights like that we can handle." He had a point. We're good, but every team has a breaking point, especially when one member has his hands full with an unconscious kid.

"Yeah, I've got him. Cover me and we can get him out." Nova confirmed, hovering just a little bit above the ground so he could move more quickly.

"Alright. Let's go!" White Tiger said, dashing out in front, leading us out of the compound.

We ran into a few fights on the way out. Apparently, when we threw our stealth tactics out the window, every guard in the joint wanted a piece of us. Every time it got nasty, though, Nova stayed behind with Fynn. It was strange, not seeing the Buckethead jumping into a fight and taking chances. He fired a few shots when he could, but mainly focused on keeping Fynn safe. I was glad, considering Fury would have our asses if our mission got screwed up when we were almost out. But it was still really, really strange.

We made it out into the hangar with guards on our tail. Despite the amount we had incapacitated on the way back out of the building, the Nethercore seemed to still have more on tap. I absolutely despise when evil organizations come prepared.

"To the car. Now!" Power Man exclaimed, running to the hummer parked on the right. We all followed quickly. White Tiger slid into the driver's seat and Iron Fist took the passenger's side. The rest of us got into the back, Nova in the middle, Power Man on his right, me on his left. We situated Fynn across our laps and Tiger got the keys from the sun visor above her seat and started the car, lurching out of the hangar and away from the barbed wire fence of the compound.


	4. Make Room

White Tiger drove quickly away from the building, taking a roundabout route to get back to the jets so that nobody could trail us back and ambush us. We bounced down dirt roads and trails, but the car seemed to be able to take it. Tiger handled it well too, since she was the best driver out of all of us. The terrain didn't phase us, though the three of us in the back seat were exchanging nervous stares. Every large bump sent Power Man's head into the ceiling and he'd give Nova and I a look of annoyance. We both replied with sympathetic shrugs as we all hoped for the ride to be over.

On the ride though, I noticed something strange. Fynn still laid unconscious across our laps, his head resting on my door and his feet on Power Man's. But on my legs, instead of feeling a person's back, there seemed to be a bundle of something underneath his old ragged sweatshirt. Of course, I couldn't shift him too easily, so I just sat still and made sure he didn't fall onto the floor.

Soon, White Tiger brought the car to a stop in front of our jets and she and Iron Fist jumped out of the front seat and went to get the jets running. Power Man and I carefully slid out from underneath Fynn and out of the car. Nova scooted slowly from the car, Fynn still on his lap. He let Fynn rest against the seats for a moment so he could stand up, then he lifted the kid out of the car. The three of us headed to the jets quickly, just in case someone had manage to trail us through Tiger's twirly straw of a route.

"Jets are ready! Let's go!" Power Man alerted us before ducking into his own vehicle.

"Nova, take Fynn. I'll let Fury know how it went." I instructed before web-slinging my way to my jet.

I ran up the ramp to the plane, hitting the button that raised it behind me. I then headed into the cockpit and sat down in the chair. After the rush of power that comes with sitting in that chair, I hit a button and smiled under my mask at the sound of the engines starting our take off.

As soon as we were all off the ground and my auto-pilot was returning me to the helicarrier, I pulled up the communication screen and called Nick Fury. As usual, he picked up quickly. Whenever we were out on a mission, he kept one of his channels open for any of our crises on the job. It was good to know we always had a safety net when things got bad.

"Spider-Man. Give me an update." But, of course, Nick was all business. But something about him made him seem more anxious about my answer. This mission really was important. Which makes me happy that I could deliver good news.

"We saved Fynn, Director. But he's unconscious. I'm pretty sure they drugged him." I told him, leaning back triumphantly in my chair.

"I'm impressed." he said, amazed, "Get him back to the helicarrier and we'll treat him. Doctor Connors will be ready." And with that, he ended the call.

I took off my mask, fixing my messy hair. Resting against my chair, I thought over the worst possible effects of our mission. I was a habit I had gotten since joining S.H.I.E.L.D. Fury taught us to be ready for anything, so afterwards, I thought up all the issues that could come up when the mission was over.

The only thing I could really think of happening was the Nethercore learning that we're after them, which was bound to happen. Fury would have ideas on how to cope with that, probably in the form of our next orders. So, with no immediate danger, I relaxed and checked how long it would take to get back to the helicarrier. These jets were S.H.I.E.L.D. vehicles, so they were top of the line, meaning we only had about twenty minutes left until we were back home.

Suddenly, the silence was interrupted with a ring. Looking at the screen on the dashboard in front of me, it said that Nova was calling. I clicked the answer button and Nova's screen appeared on the screen.

"Hey Webhead, what's crackin'?" he greeted in his usual cocky tone. I immediately rolled my eyes.

"You called me, Sam." I drawl, using his real name now that we were away from the enemy, "What do you want?"

"Okay, so, I don't mean this in a creepy way but… You felt something under Fynn's shirt too, right?" he asked, dancing around the subject for as long as possible.

"What?!" I exclaimed, incredulous. "Sam, we are more professional than that! I don't care how hot you find him, we don't feel up our targets!" I scolded him. Nova began to blush beneath his Buckethead helmet and I silently commended myself for my awesome work.

"N-No! Th-That's not what I meant!" he fumbled through his words, trying to recover, "I mean, like, if you… Like feel his back… It doesn't feel… Uh…" Nova trailed off, understanding that he couldn't make what he said sound any less creepy. But, thankfully for him, I knew what he was referencing.

"Calm down, Bucketbrain, I felt it too." I told him in an exasperated tone. "When Fynn was laying across my lap, there was definitely something strange about it. Almost like he had something hidden under his shirt."

"Oh thank god." he breathed a sigh of relief before continuing, "Yeah, yeah. What do we do..?" Nova was definitely thrown for a loop, he seemed incredibly awkward. I gave him a strange look, he usually shrugged off my jokes or sent a bad joke my way. But, I decided to drop it, and returned to the conversation at hand.

"We'll just wait it out." I answered casually, hoping he'd get himself back on track, "I'm sure we'll find out eventually. Doc Connors can get us some answers, and Fynn himself will have even more when he wakes up. Don't sweat it."

"Yeah.. Alright. I'll see you when we land." Nova hung up without another word.

I gave the screen one more strange look before fishing my phone and earbuds out of my pocket. I put my earbuds in and started some music to take my mind off the utter weirdness that just happened. I knew Fury wouldn't approve of my choice to not be completely alert after a mission, but the rest of my team (or at least White Tiger) was on it and after whatever freak show had just happened over the comms, I needed a bit of a distraction. His unusual actions made me question if my balanced life was going to stay that way for very long. It made me nervous.

I should have been outright terrified.

 **xxx**

Before long, all of our jets touched down on the helicarrier and I turned off the music. What Nick Fury didn't know wouldn't hurt him. Stashing my phone, I walked to the exit of the jet and lowered the ramp.

Looking around, I saw that we were high above the city, the concrete streets and huge business buildings looking small and insignificant. Looking over, my teammates were leaving their jets and together, Nova holding Fynn in his arms, and we walked into the helicarrier. Nick met us at the entrance, his usual stern expression telling us he was ready to get down to business.

"So the mission really was a success?" Nick mused, looking us over with a vaguely surprised look in his eye. It's like he almost expected us to come back beaten and bloodied.

"Yes, sir. All of us present and accounted for." I confirmed with a nod. The rest of my team followed with various affirmative answers.

"I'm impressed, nice work." Nick threw us a bone, knowing that we all appreciated a little recognition every once and awhile. "Dr. Connors is waiting for Fynn in the lab." Nick turned his back to us and walked down the hall, guiding us to the lab. We followed diligently after him, curious as to what we'd learn about our new friend Fynn.

I wondered what exactly his powers entailed. It must be something subtle and easy to hide, since S.H.I.E.L.D. had no clue what to expect. And how'd he come about them? We all had our origin stories, a tale about how we all came to be our ultimate selves. I was bitten by a radioactive spider. White Tiger inherited the amulet from her father. Iron Fist slayed a dragon… Jesus Christ, who the hell am I hanging out with…?

Anyways... There had to be more to him than meets the eye. More than what his sparse file had to offer. And I didn't know about the rest of my team, but I was ready to find out everything.


	5. Sophomore Slump

**Chapter 5**

Before long, we were all gathered around Fynn's bed in Doc Connors' lab. Despite his lingering unconsciousness, color seemed to be returning to his face, though he hadn't stirred yet.

Doc Connors had wasted no time in checking over his new patient. As soon as Nova had gently placed Fynn onto the cot in Connors' more private corner of the lab, we were shooed away and a curtain was pulled around the two. After a fifteen minute wait, Dr. Connors emerged, smiling.

"What have you found?" Fury questioned, never the one to waste time.

"He's going to be fine. He was pretty malnourished and he also had some bruises and cuts. His fingers are burned, it seems like they were trying to remove his prints. They seemed to have changed them, though I don't know the extent of it right now… It doesn't seem like they were finished." I felt a collective cringe from my team and I. That sounded incredibly painful. And we were used to taking regular beatings from amped up criminals. "I gave him some painkillers and salve. Since they're S.H.I.E.L.D. made, it will only take a few days. Anyways, that's not the most interesting thing I found. Follow me." He beckoned with one hand and we followed him as he pulled back the curtain.

On the cot laid a shirtless Fynn, eyes still closed and muscles slack. Dr. Connors gently picked up Fynn's limp left hand and pointed out old scars all over it, careful not to exacerbate the injured fingers. But that's not what everybody was looking at.

The kid had wings.

There they were, huge black bird wings folded against his back, crushed awkwardly under his unconscious body. Unfurled, I'm sure he had a long wingspan, but I couldn't exactly tell from this position. His wings, unlike his hands, looking in tact.

"What the..?" White Tiger was the first to point out the elephant in the room.

"So _that's_ what I felt under his shirt…" I commented. It took the disturbed looks of my team and the confused stares of my mentors that made me realize what I just said, "I mean, when we were in the back of the car, he was laying on me and… His back felt… I mean…" I stumbled, trying to recover from my mistake.

"Give it up, Webs." Nova told me, grinning slyly.

"You-You agreed with me!" I retorted, voice rising.

"I don't know _what_ you're talking about!" He managed to play dumb very well. Of course, that wasn't surprising to anyone who had seen his report card.

"Oh forget it!" I exclaimed, before calming down. After that, I continued. "What caused him to get…. Wings?"

"I'm not sure yet, I haven't run tests. I would like to wait until he wakes up to ask him about it. If that's alright with you, Director Fury." Connors turned to Nick.

"Of course, Write up a report, I'd like to see what he knows. Get permission from him to run tests as well." Nick ordered, the shock of seeing a teenage boy with bird wings sprouting out of his back wearing off. He was the only one, "You kids are free to go, but be ready to get called in later. We'll tell you when he wakes up."

"I've never seen anything like this before!" White Tiger exclaimed, already geeking out over the sight as we walked out of the lab.

"Well, duh. It's not like someone's gonna go flaunting that sort of thing around." I replied. She smacked me hard on the shoulder, causing me to recoil in pain.

"Where did he get them?" Power Man asked, which only fueled Nova.

"The store." he drawled sarcastically, "How the hell should we know?!"

"Everybody calm down. We will have our answers soon enough." Iron Fist mediated, quieting the wise cracks and possible arguments.

We all headed to the suiting room and changed into our street clothes. The whole way we discussed the theories and possibilities about the mystery man in the infirmary. We all knew that Fury thought that mission was vastly important, but why? What was going on here?

I decided to hang out with my friends for a little while since Fynn could wake up at any time. We all headed into the bunk room. It was a pretty boring place, the walls colored blue and the floors gray. Besides the ever useful twin sized bunks and scattered beanbag chairs, the only attraction of the room was its television set up, complete with video games and movies. Despite the fact that S.H.I.E.L.D. was a government organization, it did realize it was dealing with teenagers, so it provided a semi-decent entertainment system. Sam, Danny, Luke, and I all sat down to play a shooter as Ava went off to do some homework. She had learned to deal with our loud distractions and could now do trigonometry problems in any setting, no matter what was happening. It was actually pretty scary sometimes.

After a while though, Sam stood up. "I'm gonna go do something, I'll be back in a bit." With that, he dropped his controller onto his beanbag and left the room, letting the door slide shut behind him. We all gave each other confused looks, but didn't think too much of it.

"Ava, join us!" I said, turning around to face her bunk.

"No." she answered simply.

"Why?" I asked, whining slightly.

"I'm doing homework right now, not rotting my brain like you idiots." Our golden rule was to never interrupt Ava when she was doing her work. Then she just got plain nasty. Not that we ever took it personally.

After some begging and a whole lot of pleading, we finally got her away from her history work and over to the dark side of first person shooters. Of course, in typical Ava Ayala fashion, she kicked all our asses swiftly and without fail. Ava is actually really good at video games, she just doesn't show it off too much.

Suddenly, Fury's voice came through the room's intercom. "He's awake, come now."

Danny paused the game and we all hurried out of the room towards the infirmary. It was time for answers.


End file.
